Date: January 17, 2017

THE national ice hockey team is facing a challenging path in preparing for upcoming competitions, especially for this year’s SEA Games, which will see ice hockey being played for the first time.

Not having a proper sized ice rink that can accommodate to their training needs is the biggest concern, right next to not having proper matches in accordance with international standards.

But under the circumstances, national coach Kristof Kovago is content with the team’s progress during the past few weeks.

The Hungarian preparing the squad for this year’s SEA Games said the team had vastly improved its speed and teamwork since returning from a training camp in South Korea last month.

Kristof said the aim was to become competitive for upcoming events such as next month’s Asian Winter Games (AWG) in Sapporo, Japan, and build up with more competitions before the SEA Games in August.

“I was pleasantly surprised that the players were able to hold up during the intense training. Some of them fell ill due to the colder climate but there was only one case of serious injury,” he said about the training and friendly matches with South Korean schools teams and clubs from local leagues.

“The temperature was around minus three degrees Celsius, which is what the AWG will be like,” he told StarMetro before a training session at the Icescape Ice Rink in IOI City Mall, Putrajaya.

He added that while some players had gone for training overseas on an individual basis, it was the first time the players went for a camp as a team.

“Imagine, some of them had never even played a five-on-five game.

“They didn’t know how to use the fifth person. They were also not used to full-contact games and playing with proper stop time because we cannot get enough ice time here,” he said.

Lack of proper games, training and teams willing to play full-contact ice hockey means their form has been on a plateau. For now, they can only keep on training.

“Over there, we were able to watch and analyse the videos of our games but we cannot do that here because we don’t have proper games. The players and I, we grew a lot from that camp.

“I think we are behind where we should be at the moment, but if the new Olympic-sized ice hockey rink in Empire City Damansara opens in time, we have a chance to catch up,” Kristof noted.

For the coming Winter Games, Malaysian Ice Hockey Federation has been able to line up friendly games and practice sessions a few days before the tournament.

“Right now I am working on their drills to get them comfortable on the ice so they can focus on teamwork when the time comes.

“Obviously, everybody wants to win, but our goals are a little bit different. To me, the AWG is more of a stepping stone to gain more experience and for the players to learn to play as a team,” Kristof said about expectations for the team in Japan.

“It is also means more exposure to full-contact five-on-five games, which will be helpful in preparing for the SEA Games. At the same time, we want to do well against teams like Indonesia, Macau and Iran.

He added that it would be difficult going up against teams that field imported professional players for the upcoming games but Kristof remains optimistic.

“You’ll never know, this is ice hockey and anything can happen.

“Ultimately, we have to get ourselves competitive but if we don’t get enough matches before the SEA Games we will not be able to do that.

“We also have another idea of inviting teams over to help with preparations but we have to cover some of their expenses.”

Turn back clock with 15-goal thriller that’s must-see-TV

Here’s the thing about the impromptu ’80s night Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh: This isn’t the 1980s.

The reason the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 8-7 overtime win against the Washington Capitals was such a stop-what-you’re-doing-and-turn-on-the-game event was that this isn’t an era of wide-open, no-defense, weak-goaltending hockey.

This is the era of the salary cap, of parity in the standings, of video study, of defensive systems, of fourth-line forwards and third-pair defensemen who can skate, of goaltenders who are bigger, better and more well-equipped than ever before.

And they still scored like crazy.

The score was 3-0, Washington. And then it was 3-3. And then it was 5-3, Pittsburgh. And then it was 5-5. And then it was 7-5, Pittsburgh. And then it was 7-7.

And then, after all of that in regulation, they went to 3-on-3 overtime.

You knew it wouldn’t last long. Penguins forwardConor Sheary ended it 34 seconds in when he drove to the net and jammed at his own rebound with Capitals goaltenderPhilipp Grubauer falling backward. As Capitals defensemanMatt Niskanenhit Sheary and knocked off his helmet, the puck bounced off Niskanen’s right skate and slid in slow motion across the goal line.

All that was missing was Sheary standing up and yelling to the crowd, like Maximus in the movie “Gladiator,” “Are you not entertained?”

Florida Panthers goaltenderRoberto Luongotweeted he was watching the game “in the fetal position.” Retired NHL defenseman Hal Gill, who played for the Penguins in 2007-08 and ’08-09, tweeted it was “bananas.” He said it had “playoff intensity with zero defensive structure.”

There were 15 goals, nine in the second period. There was back-and-forth action, animosity between Metropolitan Division rivals, a hat trick by Penguins centerEvgeni Malkin, an NHL-leading 27th goal and three assists by Penguins captainSidney Crosby.

Eleven players scored, and incredibly Capitals captainAlex Ovechkin, one of the best goal-scorers of this era, if not the best, was not one of them. Twenty-five had at least a point.

Not since Oct. 27, 2011, when the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 9-8, had two teams combined for at least 15 goals. The Capitals became the third team in 21 years to score at least seven goals and lose. The Penguins’Matt Murray became the first goaltender to play a full game, allow seven goals and win since the Flyers’ Dominic Roussel did it in an 8-7 game against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 21, 1994, according to writer Sean McIndoe.

Bananas, indeed.

Look, we can romanticize for the good old days. We can keep working on improving hockey, including adding more offense. But we can’t go back to the ’80s, and if we go back and watch old games, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t want to. When games are low-scoring, we complain there are too few goals. When they’re high-scoring, we say they have “zero defensive structure” or poor goaltending. Hockey isn’t perfect and never was. It will never please everybody, even its most ardent fans. But it evolved for a reason, and in many ways, it’s better than ever before — more athletic, more sophisticated, more competitive.

This game was special because it was rare and because of the circumstances. Consider the era. Now consider this: The Capitals were on a nine-game winning streak, the Penguins on a three-game losing streak. The Capitals were ranked first in the NHL in goals against, allowing 1.91 per game, and startingBraden Holtby, the reigning winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goaltender. When the Capitals took a 3-0 lead, no one would have been surprised had they cruised the rest of the way.

But these were two of the best teams in the League in terms of points percentage, the Capitals second at .733 and the Penguins fourth at .679, and in terms of goals per game, the Penguins second at 3.40 and the Capitals seventh at 3.02. Malkin made it 3-1, Sheary made it 3-2,Nick Boninomade it 3-3 and … well, ’80s, ’90s, aughts, teens, it didn’t matter. Talent took over, and Twitter lit up, and it was must-see TV.

“That could have turned into a rout quickly, and it didn’t, and I give our guys a ton of credit for that,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I just think we’ve got a resilient group, and they know they’re capable of coming back in games when they get down multiple goals. We love that about this group. The compete level, the competitive spirit, the never-say-die, just the stick-to-itiveness is something that we really admire about our guys, and I thought it was evident tonight.

“That second period is one of the craziest periods I’ve been associated with. I don’t even know how to assess it.”

Here’s an easy assessment: It was fun.

Connect with us:

Menu

Quick Note

Growing up in Canada I was a huge hockey fan, but it wasn't until the 1972 summit series and the 1976 Canada Cup that I became a big fan of international hockey. The best players in world all playing on a sheet of ice.
over the years Ice Hockey as grown and is still growing all over the world. On this website you find Video Hi-lites of International Games, Ice hockey News, National Team Records, All Time Results, Scores, Schedule to upcoming games and all International Tournaments from around the world.

We want to thank some people who have contributed to our website over the years.